Humanos.
We wanted to establish several key points in this cinematic: humans were once the predominant race, a people with many kingdoms spread all across Tyria, but now they are in decline; and despite these dark times, they still have faith, even if it feels more distant. Visually, we wanted to show the amazing vistas of Divinity’s Reach and the last great human nation of Kryta. The second half of the cinematic is set by a player’s choice of social class—is your character a member of the gentry, a hardworking commoner, or do they hail from the streets? The moving imagery in each option is very different, and the writing is designed to convey the mood and give you a distinct feel for each background and setting.
Norn.
Because the norn are a less familiar race, we wanted to establish their place in Tyria. They are a hearty race of shape-shifting adventurers who have been pushed south by adversity, but fighting every inch of the way. The norn are an incredibly adventurous race who prize the glory of accomplishment above all. We wanted to present images that showed their snowy landscape, their courage, and their deep spirituality. In the second part of the cinematic, we illustrate the player’s past history, their outlook on life, and which Spirit of the Wild—Bear, Snow Leopard, Raven, or Wolf—they feel the most affinity for.
Charr.
Those who played the original Guild Wars will recognize the savage charr, the implacable foes of mankind, and they will have certain expectations. We needed to live up to those player expectations, but, much like with the humans, we also need to make sure that players know who the charr in Tyria are now, 250 years beyond the time of the first game. The charr are fierce, militant, and uncompromising. But their point of view on history had yet to be told, and it’s an important perspective in understanding their story in Guild Wars 2. For the first time, the charr aren’t just “the bad guys.” They have a reason to be angry, and have reclaimed much of the land once stolen from them by humanity. The defining aspect of a charr’s life is which legion they choose; their training, culture, and lifestyle all stem from the legion in which they were raised. Therefore, the opening cinematic is designed to play up the differences between those legions.
Asura.
Although the asura played a modest role in Guild Wars: Eye of the North, it’s only in Guild Wars 2 that we’ve been able to really establish them. From their magical cities to their high-minded philosophy of the Eternal Alchemy, the asura have a marvelous depth to their culture that we wanted to showcase—all in a minute and a half of cinematic. Wshoo! We needed this cinematic to do more than many others: define the asura colleges and mindset as well as establish the race’s place in the world. When dealing with concepts like “synergetics,” it’s important that we have clear writing and striking visuals. With the asura cinematic, we wanted to show the different colleges, their experiment styles, and their studies to really concretely illustrate how each one was distinct from the others.
Sylvari.
However, for the sylvari, the opening cinematic was even more important. We’d never established the sylvari before, and players had no history with the race in the Guild Wars universe. But even as challenging as that was, we had a tremendous opportunity to establish part of the sylvari experience that is critical to understanding their race — the Dream of Dreams. Because the sylvari are awakened as fully-grown individuals, we chose to make their tutorial experience happen within the Dream, and to have their opening cinematic reflective of it. It’s informative, but it also has mythical quality, a sense of imagery rather than concrete reality. We needed to show the sylvari mindset, but also who they are, how they relate to life in Tyria, and what kinds of roles they fulfill in our stories of the world. Add to that the need to represent biography choices, introduce the iconic character Caithe, and define the sylvari attitude and “feel.”
Fuentes originales:
- Humanos, Norn y Charr.
- Asura.
- Sylvari.
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